by DAWN MORGAN

WHEN I WAS A CHILD in Guyana, one of my favourite treats was a baked crab-back. Stuffed full of seasoned fresh crabmeat, held together with some breadcrumbs, it was the type of sensual delicacy that you took your time to relish.

The crab-backs I have eaten as an adult have lost something over the years; they seem to be more breadcrumbs than crabmeat. The seasoning is either lacking in taste or instead of being able to distinguish mingled tones of garlic, onion/chives, and subtle salt and pepper, you are assaulted with too much pepper.

I had an interesting and surprising experience with scuttler crabs when I lived on the beach in Roadview, St Peter. The old chattel house was not held together too tightly. A visit to the toilet or bath was not a lonely experience as you often had crabs for company.

I once put a monster crab – the thing was more than a foot wide – into a bucket, and it got out right away. Lacking a lid, I used a piece of wooden plank to keep it inside.

I have never put a lot of small crabs into a bucket, but I don't doubt the validity of the common expression that crabs in a barrel crawl over each other's backs to get to the top.

And some people behave the same way.

They tear down everyone else, and shove them aside, in their mad dash to get to the top, then scuttle away and forget where they came from. Some look down on those left behind and won't give them a hands up.

Not that some of the bottom feeders have better attitudes! They never admit they are too lazy, weak, unambitious, or lacking in the skills needed to make it to the top. They fuss and fume, complain, blame everybody but themselves, hate, get angry, depressed, lose hope and feel powerless. God is supposed to do everything for them. They waste energy dragging down those who have made it to the top.

And therein lies the powerful-foolish attitude of some people to the beautiful, talented, sensuous, godess-legged and ever so loyal to Barbados Rihanna, our very own princess who made it on her own steam.

Just diss the haters.

So they don't like your brand of music, dancing and dressing. Can't they live and let live? I guess some of them lead such an empty and boring existence they can only feel alive when they are venting their spleen with envy, jealousy or intolerance.

Others think that because they believe in God, they have a non-God-given right (wrong!) to condemn and dominate people, even if they can't control themselves or their under-age children. Apparently the part of the Bible about "judge not" ent in their books. And only they have free will!

Rihanna should be an official culture ambassador; and if she was given a villa, condo or townhouse here, it can attract other celebrities to visit and either rent or buy property.

* Dawn Morgan is a NATION senior reporter who refuses to be crabby about the success of others. Tel 430-5495 dawnmorgan@nationnews.com